Yeah. This is the first year that I'm 100% independent from my parents, and while I feel really good about that, I also am now constantly aware that if I screw up, I could actually not eat for a while. On the one hand, I could always go and ask them for money (and I would, if it was really a question of eating or not), but I would feel incredibly ashamed - especially since I know how much they sacrificed to send me to a very expensive private school.

What I'm saying is - if nothing else, in future Fiona and Delia (and I!) will remember the importance of that emergency fund, and I'm sure that they're going to be very responsible with their money when they're older - since they've seen what can happen, just by luck, to throw your life into turmoil.